TSMC's Feb. Revenue Down 28% MoM; Up 33.8% YoY

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), currently the world's No.1 contract chipmaker, announces having net revenue of NT$62.64 billion (US$2.02 billion US$1:NT$31) in February this year alone, sinking 28.1% from the previous month whereas gaining 33.8% year on year.

Industry executives ascribe the decrease mostly to reduced workdays because of the weeklong Chinese New Year holidays and relatively higher revenue base in January due partly to the one-time listed income from contract manufacturing of Apple A8 processors.

The chipmaker saw its revenue for January hit fresh all-time high of NT$87.12 billion (US$2.81 billion). Behind the impressive revenue result were delayed orders from contract buyers and the company's earlier-than-planned contract deliveries not to mention the contribution from Apple A8 contracts.

Throughout the first two months of this year, the company raked in total revenue of NT$149.76 billion (US$4.83 billion), soaring 52.4% from the same period of last year.

Based on the hefty orders that are keeping the company's production lines humming now, industry executives estimate company's revenue for this March to rise 15% from a month earlier to NT$72-74 billion (US$2.32-2.38 billion) and forecast the company to comfortably attain the revenue goal of NT$221.0-224.0 billion (US$7.12-7.22 billion) for the first quarter.

The company's revenue of NT$222.52 billion (US$7.17 billion) for the final quarter of last year hit new high in the company's history.

Industry executives point out that Qualcomm International Inc., one of TSMC's major customers, has chosen Samsung Electronics build its latest wireless chips on 14nm process in consideration of the uncompromised pricing that TSMC offers for its 16nm process.

TSMC will begin to see clear revenue contribution from 16nm process, which is still in pilot production at the company, in the final quarter this year at the earliest.

Industry executives estimate the company to see its strongest revenue growth of this year in the fourth quarter, with its revenue growing at only single-digit rate throughout the first three quarters.

(KL)

TSMC's Consolidated Revenue for Jan. and Feb. 2015 (Unit: NT$ million)

Period	February 2015	January 2015	M-o-M change (%)	February 2014	Y-o-Y change (%)	January to February 2015	January to February 2014	Y-o-Y (%)
Net Revenues	62,645	87,120	28.1	46,829	33.8	149,765	98,259	52.4

Source:TSMC